The Mexican team defeated this Wednesday by 1-0 to Panama, in a match in which he suffered too much, and set foot in the Qatar World Cup 2022, by sneaking into third place in the tie. With a penalty converted by Raúl Jiménez, from Wolverhampton, the Mexicans decided the victory against an opponent who offered tenacious resistance.
With three games to go, Mexico has 21 points, the same as the United States, second place, four less than the leader Canada, four above Panama and five above Costa Rica.
The Panama team came out without complexes against a Mexico at a bad time; Although the local team had possession of the ball 53-47, the Central Americans created the clearest scoring plays. Mexico again lacked good sense from three quarters of the court forward, with a poor performance from Jiménez, who improved in the second half.
Panama came close to opening the scoring on a free kick in the 12th minute, in which goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and midfielder Héctor Herrera saved Mexico. In the 39th minute, César Yanis shot from long distance and was inches away from giving Panama the goal with a left footed shot.
Mexico looked better coupled at the beginning of the first half, but lacked accuracy. In minute 73, the Mexicans moved the ball through the area and were close to converting through Alexis Vega, who shot from the outside. Mexico ended the anguish in the 80′. After a takedown by Diego Laínez in the area, Raúl Jiménez converted the penalty for 1-0.
In the remainder of the tie, Mexico will host the United States, visit Honduras and host El Salvador, while Panama will host Honduras, visit the United States and host Canada.
DATA SHEET
Mexico-Canada 1-0
1 – Mexico: William Ochoa; Gerardo Arteaga, Néstor Araujo, César Montes, Julio César Domínguez (Julián Araujo m.68); Andrés Guardado, Héctor Herrera, Carlos Rodríguez (Jesús M. Corona m.68); Hirving Lozano (Diego Lainez m.67), Raúl Jiménez, Alexis Vega (Luis Romo m.83).
Coach: Garardo Martino
0 – Panama: Luis Mejia; Michael Murillo, Fidel Escobar, Roderick Miller (Jiovany Ramos m.74), Erick Davis; Adalberto Carrasquilla (Armando Cooper m.83), Aníbal Godoy, César Yanis (José Luis Rodríguez m.46), Édgar Bárcenas, Alberto Quintero (Abdiel Ayarza m.60), Rolando Blackburn (José Fajardo m.60).
Coach: Thomas Christiansen.
Goal: 1-0, Raul Jimenez (m. 80)
Referee: Ivan Barton, from El Salvador. He admonished Héctor Herrera; Eric Davis and Jose Fajardo.
Incidents: Match of the eleventh day of the Concacaf qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup, held at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, before some 2,000 fans, at 2,240 meters above sea level
